This blog is dedicated to:
A) improving fiscal oversight, management and operational efficiency of the 1) Lake County, Florida School District, 2) the separate Lake County Government, 3) the North Lake County Hospital District, PLUS 4) the operations of the independently elected Constitutional Officers (Sheriff, Tax Collector, Assessor, County Clerk, etc.) and also
B) Improving fiscal and management effectiveness of other local government agencies and programs spending taxpayer funds.
To read older articles, select them from the categories or archives listings. We also recommend listening to Ralph Smith's Lake County (FL) Round Table radio show every Wed. at 1pm to 2pm on WLBE AM-790.

May 2018

May 28, 2018

Tavares, FL Memorial Day, May 28, 2018 Hillary's quote in this meme clearly indicates one of the problems with the liberals, Democrats and unions who support them. They believe that "the state" or government, should be more important in development of children than parental and family values. Their attitude that government is always more right than parents is scary, and is one of the concepts woven into K-12 textbooks, college teacher training, and "reading materials" used to support class topics. Suggested reading materials cited by the original, liberal created Common Core initiative included many sections preaching this idea of the State taking precedence over parents. This can be one cause for students to be rebeling more because they may have been indoctrinated that parental opinions are not important. Recently a grandparent filed a complaint with the Lake County school district about a book containing objectionable statements. The Lake County School District Board needs to pick a side in this controversy and distance themselves from this indoctrination by clearly rejecting this concept of the State superceding parents, stating so in their mission statement, class blueprints and instructions to teachers. By doing so, and implementing transparency in policies prohibiting political bias in...
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May 21, 2018

Traffic and road conditions are getting worse in Lake County. We talk about some of the issues, and how some more funding may be on the way if the Lake County Board starts the process to increase road impact fees on new construction.
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May 16, 2018

Tavares, FL May 16, 2018 Today, at 4pm, Will the Tavares City Council vote to approve a high density development near Deer Island opposed by most local residents, or will they decide something better is possible and approve a design from the neighbors that fits the community, or reject the development entirely for a better proposal from other buyers? And, that isn't the only developer proposal on today's agenda. Another 100+ unit "stack and pack" high density development on Dead River Road is also up for approval, and is also opposed by their neighbors due to the high density and traffic impact on a single two land County road where residents say they have to wait for up to five lights to get through the intersection of Dead River Road and Highway 19. I have observed both Plannning & Zoning meetings and City Council discussions on these two developer proposals as well as an earlier project, and it seems there are no standards for approvals, even if the Comprehensive Land Use plan or other rules set restrictions. But now the City Council and their "flexible" City Attorney has run up against five organized neighborhood groups in the Squirrel Point /...
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May 03, 2018

Tavares, FL May 3, 2018 Rich Swier writes a good overview of the funding crisis hitting schools and Sheriffs over the Parkland FL legislation requiring school resource officers in every school. VJ
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Tavares, FL May 3, 2018 MRC, a conservative rights group founded by Brent Bozell and Col. Allen West, has published a demand signed by 64 conservative leaders that social media firms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube modify policies to balance liberal media bias. The four policies they emphasize are: 1) Provide Transparency: We need detailed information so everyone can see if liberal groups and users are being treated the same as those on the right. Social media companies operate in a black-box environment, only releasing anecdotes about reports on content and users when they think it necessary. This needs to change. The companies need to design open systems so that they can be held accountable, while giving weight to privacy concerns. 2) Provide Clarity on ‘Hate Speech’: “Hate speech” is a common concern among social media companies, but no two firms define it the same way. Their definitions are vague and open to interpretation, and their interpretation often looks like an opportunity to silence thought. Today, hate speech means anything liberals don’t like. Silencing those you disagree with is dangerous. If companies can’t tell users clearly what it is, then they shouldn’t try to regulate it. 3) Provide Equal Footing...
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